Nocto wants to revolutionize European nightlife by letting you see real-time pictures and videos from within the events around you, so you can be at the right place at the right time based on the music type, atmosphere and attendance. With 4000+ venues in 35+ countries already, we are well on our way to becoming the go-to nightlife and events platform for all of Europe!

What the money is going to be used for

The funds will allow Nocto to grow and establish itself as a dominant player in European nightlife. The funds will go towards ensuring that our product matches our ambitions, allowing us to have an iOS and an Android app and an efficient backend with properly functioning and well-designed websites. We will have a marketing budget that allows us to be present in the needed spaces, both online and offline, as well as creating partnerships and sponsorships with DJs, event organizers and venues. Finally, we will have our administrative costs covered, setting us on our way to conquer European nightlife!

Company Description

Nocto operates both as a B2B and a B2C, with a mobile app for the people and a web platform for the businesses:

Users are able to see real-time pictures and venues from within the venues around them. By contributing with their own pictures & videos (Insights) and having them Hooted (liked) by other users, they can collect Nocs, the in-app virtual currency that can be spent on benefits such as free drinks, entrances, queue skips and more! In order to upload Insights and spend Nocs on Deals, users must be Checked-In to a venue, which is only possible when within 100m of the venue. “Be at the right place, at the right time, and get free deals for contributing."

Businesses are able to understand and review the data collected by the Nocto app from within their venue through four main functions; Insights, Events, Statistics and Deals. These allow the venues to improve their customer relationship management by understanding the audience and their perceptions & desires. The data gathering is consistent since users are required to Check-In through the app to share Insights and spend Nocs. As a result, venues can improve their service, attract a wider audience and reward their loyal customers. “Understand your audience, to know how to please your audience.”

Nocto has an active team of almost 30 members, all of which have either just graduated or are also combining their work with university studies. The Management Team consists of the following people, with their core functions described also. Founder & CEO – David Franzén; Responsible for the general organization and structure of the firm, with an aligned vision in all departments to work towards the common goal of revolutionizing the European nightlife scene. Head of Sales; ensures that the overall sales strategy is in place, and the efficient use of our CRM tool to keep track of our progress and plans. Responsible for the Regional Managers, who in turn are responsible for their Local Sales Managers, which creates a web of experienced salesmen all over Europe to grow our client base quickly and efficiently. Head of Marketing; responsible for the general marketing strategy and that it complements and supports the sales team. Managing the marketing team consisting of our; Social Media Manager, Creative Manager, Events Manager, Public Relations Manager and Brand Manager. Head of Finances & Administration; responsible for creating and updating our financial documents, including our projections, our department budgets, funding, accountancy, taxes and declarations.

Market

Europe is bountiful with places to go out: Paris, London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Prague, Berlin, Barcelona and the list keeps on going. “2016 has been the seventh consecutive year of tourism growth and we expect this trend to continue in the future. This means that we will have to work to make the sector more sustainable, more accessible and more inclusive and for this, technology and innovation are the most useful key tools,” explained UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai. In the UK alone, https://www.ntia.co.uk/ states that there is 66 billion pounds in nightlife revenue per annum, and that 8% of UK employment is nightlife related.

One of the special attributes of Nocto is that it covers all of Europe, and expanding its coverage every day. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Europe was the most frequently visited region in the world in 2015, accounting for over half (51.4 %) of all international tourist arrivals, equivalent to some 609 million persons. It has also been observed that these tourists tend to have the highest overnight stays in coastlines and the major cities. This is in line with the strategy of the Expansion team of Nocto. Moreover, Nocto is open to everyone who can use the app. Thus citizens as well as tourists benefit from the app. Hence, Nocto is open to Hotels also, as they would be very much interested in the demographics offered by Nocto.

Financials

The funds will allow Nocto to grow and establish ourselves as a dominant player in European nightlife. We will have a marketing budget that allows us to be present in the needed spaces, both online and offline, as well as creating partnerships and sponsorships with DJs, event organizers and venues. The funds will of course also go towards ensuring that our product matches our ambitions, that it lets us have both a great iOS and Android app, an efficient and quick backend, with properly functioning and well-designed websites. Finally, we will have our administrative costs covered, setting us on our way to conquer European nightlife!

Challenges

RISKS AND CHALLENGES.

User Experience: The popularity of some apps may be short-lived as it depends on the user experience that the app delivers. However, the user experience may also change over time and preferences of individual customers are not constant. Therefore, it is highly important for Nocto to be well prepared, and always ready and eager to innovate to keep our product on its toes, and our clients and users excited and amazed by the services we provide.

Marketing and Advertising: In such a highly competitive market, Nocto must be unique and original in its method of appealing to the crowd. Since we are also focusing on all of Europe, with several different languages and cultures, we must be sure to employ the correct marketing strategies in the correct regions, and to alter our campaigns to fit the local culture. All of our City Ambassadors, that we are establishing for all major European cities, are locals that are well connected and understand the nightlife scene. They are groomed in the culture of that city and thus have the right promotional skill sets.

Maintenance: The pace at which technology is growing has been faster than ever. Nocto would like to keep up with it, and help improve the standard, in order to become the market leader in European nightlife! We must continuously add features to reinforce our user interface and value, while being flexible to include changes in trends, styles and demands. As we are dealing with user and client data, we must also ensure the proper storage and protection of the data, through imposition of cyber security measures.

App Development: Remote app development allows us to maintain lower development costs, but places a potential strain on communication and face-to-face discussion and progress. We are however very satisfied with our outsourced development team and will continue working with them for the foreseeable future.

The Project FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions;

- What are Nocs?

Nocs are the virtual in-app currency that our users collect when they contribute to the platform. These Nocs can then be spent at certain venues in exchange for drinks, entrances, queue skips and many other benefits.

- How do you collect Nocs?

Users collect Nocs in the following ways; A) For every 10 Hoots (likes) on an Insight you post, you receive 1 Noc. B) When you Check In to a Verified Venue, you receive 1 Noc. C) When you are mentioned as the Referral for when your friend creates an account, you receive 1 Noc. D) When you submit a venue that is not yet in the app through www.noctoapp.com that the Nocto team approves and adds to the app, you receive 3 Nocs.

- How many venues can you Check In to in the app?

For now we have more than 4000 venues that our users can Check In to in the app, in more than 40 countries. This does not however mean that all of these venues are offering Deals, but they are locations that you can check in to, and thus upload insights to in order to collect Nocs, to spend at the venues that do offer Deals. Our goal is for all of the venues in our app to become our clients. We expect to reach 4500+ venues by July 2017.

Updates

You can read on our project updates on our webpage via the following links: